


pleasantries and kisses

by stargayzing



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff without Plot, Love at First Sight, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-29 22:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8508514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargayzing/pseuds/stargayzing
Summary: Soulmate!AU
In a world where everyone has their soulmate's first words written somewhere on their body, Ruby is one of those unlucky enough to have a completely mundane phrase. Something everyday, like "Hello" or "Excuse Me" or, in her case, "Thank You".





	

In a world where everyone has their soulmate's first words written somewhere on their body, Ruby is one of those unlucky enough to have a completely boring phrase. Something everyday, like "Hello" or "Excuse Me" or, in her case, "Thank You".

Her mom always tries to lighten the mood when Ruby gets down and starts wailing about she'll _never ever_ find them and is going to die tragically all alone by saying, "At least you know they're polite, hm? Better work on that. And now stop being overdramatic and help me with the dishes."

But when it comes down to it, Ruby doesn't actually hate the words she got stuck with. How can she? They're her _words_.

Even if it makes her heart race everytime someone absent-mindedly thanks her for holding open the door, and she despairs sometimes, she knows she's lucky to even have a soulmate, someone who's a puzzle piece with all the right edges to fit themselves into her life, in every way. Besides, her mom said she'll just _know_ when she meets them, because that's how it happened to her. "Hits you like a truck," she'd said, and Ruby had taken it to heart.

And anyway, even if the phrase is nothing special, the placement is very unusual, and so is the handwriting - the precise script is right in the middle of her left palm, requiring her to wear fingerless gloves to cover it (which she thinks look cool anyway), clearly some kind of fancy calligraphy. All elegant curves and flourishes.

It's the kind of thing she's always been fascinated by, even if she doesn't have the patience to do it herself. Her soulmate obviously does, though. 

More often then not, Ruby wonders who her soulmate is. Someone polite, a little formal maybe. She wonders if they look as extravagant as their handwritting, if they're close to her in age. She'd like to have a girlfriend, but maybe that's not the kind of soulmate she'll get - not everyone's is romantic in nature. 

She's daydreaming again, staring at the Thank You on her hand when her phone rings and tears her out of her thoughts.

"Ruby," her mom says when she answers, and she sounds irritated. Not a good sign. "Where are you? You better not still be at home."

"Uh," Ruby says, trying to think of a way to appease her without outright lying. "I'm almost finished?"

"The gallery is opening in _twenty_ minutes. The gallery _exhibiting_   _your art!"_ Yeah, Ruby has no idea how that happened.

Ruby winces as her mom continues: "Don't you dare be late. And wear a tie." She hangs up.

Right. Better get dressed and hurry there, so her mom doesn't murder her. Well, the bright side of that would be no more worrying about not recognising her soulmate. No more worrying at all, in fact. She shrugs on the rented black slacks and the pressed white shirt, fumbling with the tiny buttons and cursing.

It's her mom's fault, really, that she had to rent a tux and go schmooze with rich people in the first place. Because her mom had gotten it into her head that Ruby was _talented,_ had entered one of her works into a competition without telling her and looked entirely smug when she won.

Which. She wasn't sure how that happened, actually, and is still confused. For her, making art is venting, about her frustrations and fears. Emotion colours every piece. So her work is always messy and colourful and still looks a lot like the graffiti that got her into doing art in the first place. She's not sure why that would appeal to them, but she's not going to complain if the Bourgeoisie want to throw their money at her.

She leaves off the bowtie because she doesn't have the ten minutes it usually takes her to wrangle a tie into something remotely decent looking, if she doesn't leave _now_ she won't make it there early enough to escape her mother's wrath, and gets on her bike. She's pretty sure her hair is a lost cause anyway, so she just speeds up and races to the art gallery, which is - of course - in an entirely different part of town. 

When she gets there, Ruby dumps the bike in one of the bushes infront of the building and races up the stairs.

She's only just late, so her mom only shoots her a glare from where she's standing at the other end of the room. She takes a moment to catch her breath, smooth out the shirt that is somehow already a little wrinkled. 

"Fashionably late, I see," a portly old man says with a smile. Ruby gets stuck on the fact that this guy is wearing what is obviously a nice suit and a frickin' _tophat_. And is that a monocle? _People actually wear those?_

"Uh. Sure," Ruby offers, belatedly realising she's being rude. 

The monopoly man just laughs and waves her off, so she heads over to her mother in the hopes that she can stop her from sticking her foot in her mouth. 

There's more people here than she was expecting, really, most in suits or dresses and sipping from glasses of champagne. She thinks she even spots some of the other artists who are being exhibited, standing next to their art and chatting politely. None of them look remotely as uncomfortable as Ruby is.

A vibrant splash of colour catches her eye and she stops by her favourite work. It's central, clearly an important piece of the exhibit, and it looks incredibly vivid next to the white paint on the gallery's walls. 

This is actually the piece that won her the competition, she knows, and tries not to fidget with embarrassment. Because the thing is - she'd painted it when she'd watched one too many rom-com, listening to sad love songs on repeat, and its basically the painting equivalent of a love letter. Complete with doodles in the margins.

WHERE ARE YOU?, it proclaims, the letters stark against the bursts of colour underneath. 

"Such an interesting piece," someone comments, and Ruby looks up (and up and up - she knows she's short, but this lady is _tall_ ). The speaker is a woman so thin she's almost skeletal and dressed in layers and layers of dark blue fabric, with studded diamonds and silver accents on her hijab. Her face is very stern. "Are you the artist?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Ruby's not sure, but she thinks she recognises the woman from TV. And she's very obviously wealthy, so she puts on her best polite smile and surpresses the urge to salute.

"My daughter is... quite a fan of your work," the woman says, voice measured and face perfectly neutral.

Ruby's still trying to figure out what she's supposed to say to that - does that mean the woman _isn't_? - when she turns away and calls: "Sapphire, come here."

Ruby turns towards the girl making their way towards them and her heart skips a beat. Sapphire, it turns out, is _stunning_ , with diamonds sparkling from her ears and seemingly gliding in a floor-length ballgown a pale shade of blue that makes her dark skin look radiant. Her lips are full and look invitingly soft, but it's her eyes that catch Ruby's attention. They sparkle brighter than any diamond ever could, and Ruby has to pick up her jaw from where it's hit the floor because _wow_.

Sapphire's mother is not impressed with her lack of manners, it seems, and is outright shocked when Ruby blurts out: "You're beautiful!"

Oops. Did she really... just say that out loud? She has a sudden flashback to all the times she joked about being _too gay to function_ , but this is a bit much, even for her.

"Thank you," Sapphire says, voice even, and Ruby is about to backpedal and apologise profusely when the words register.

Her eyes widen. It could be just a coincidence, right? But her eyes dart down to where her gloves cover her words and Sapphire follows the movement. She lets out a soft gasp, then reaches for the white ellbowlength gloves she's wearing and carefully removes her right one.

Ignoring her mother's disapproving stare, she holds the now bare hand out towards Ruby, palm up. There, in the same exact place as on Ruby's own left hand, the words YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL are written in simple block letters.

She fumbles in her hurry to get her own glove off, to show Sapphire her matching inscription. When she sees it, Sapphire lets out a breathless sort of laugh, and Ruby grins. _They found each other._

She'd be happy to just stand there in and bask in her joy, but someone clears their throat. When Ruby looks up, it's her mother, eyes soft when she sees how close the two of them are standing.

"One hell of a truck, huh?", she says, and Ruby laughs. "This isn't really the place for this... Go, I'll make your excuses."

That's when she realises she's in the middle of an art gallery full of people, who are shooting them either endeared looks or disapproving frowns. The monopoly man - wait, right, he's the owner of the gallery - sees Ruby looking and gives her an unsubtle thumbs up.

She's blushing, now, so much that her skin is on fire with it, but luckily she's too dark for it to be noticeable. "Would you, uh, take a walk with me?", she asks Sapphire, who smiles at her and says: "I'd love to." Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby sees her mom turn to quietly talk to Sapphire's mother, who still looks stern but less offended, now.

Ruby leads them down the stairs and out of the gallery, picking a random direction and walking. Ruby takes a second to enjoy the silence, to let her heart beat calm down and the blush receed. She breaks it to say: "There's a pizza place nearby. We could go there, if you'd like?"

"Of course," Sapphire says, and Ruby nods. Is this awkward? It feels a little awkward.

Sapphire speaks up a few seconds later: "Would you mind if I hold your hand?"

The request surprises her, and she's blushing again and looking away even as she mumbles: "Sure," and reaches out with her left hand for Sapphire's right. This way, when they tangle their fingers together, their words are pressed right against each other. It feels right.

Sapphire's hand is smaller than her own, she notes, and fits perfectly in hers. The thought makes her smile, a little.

They reach Jo's Pizza, and it's tiny and rather shabby and not at all appropriate for someone wearing a dress that probably costs more than the employees earn in a month. When she realises this, she tries to suggest they go somewhere else, but Sapphire waves her off.

"Here is fine," she says, voice even as always and looking entirely out of place in the booth she picks. Well. At least it's mostly clean.

They order and while they wait, Ruby fidgets before saying: "Your mom said you like my art."

"I do," she says, and now she looks a little embarrassed. "Especially the one you entered in the competition."

Ruby blinks, taking that in, before offering shyly: "I painted that for you."

"You did?", Sapphire asks, sounding completely surprised.

"Yes. For my... and, well, you're my...", she breaks off, awkward.

"I'm yours," Sapphire confirms. "In whatever capacity you need me."

That throws her a little, but she blurts out: "I like girls. And I think you're really pretty and, um, my soulmate. So maybe..."

"Yes. I'll be your girlfriend," Sapphire says, a smile on her face, and wait what?

"Did you just read my mind?" Ruby asks, confused but also giddy.

Sapphire just laughs and shakes her head. She looks even prettier when she's laughing, Ruby realises, and vows to make that happen as often as she can. And, well, since honesty has been going well for her so far...

"I'd really like to kiss you."

Sapphire nods her permission, but she looks a little nervous, so Ruby scoots closer and gives the hand held in her own a reassuring squeeze. She uses the other to carefully brush the hair out of her face, marveling at how soft it is, before leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss to Sapphire's lips. After a second, Sapphire reaches up and cups her face and kisses back, and it's soft and gentle and makes something in Ruby's chest flutter. So she does it again.

They reluctantly part when their pizza arrives, but keep sneaking glances, and the fluttery feeling doesn't disappear.

"I really liked that," Ruby confesses shyly, before taking a bite of her pizza.

"So did I," Sapphire says, and smiles at her so softly that Ruby presses another quick kiss to her lips.

Smiling, she turns back to her pizza, a little clumsily because they're still holding hands under the table.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm... so bad at titles orz  
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
